21 steps to make him fall in love with you
by Blackfan Diamond
Summary: When Ino came to Sakura with a magazine that would teach 21 steps to make a guy fall in love with her, the pink-haired ninja knew that this time she would definitely succeed in making Sasuke-kun fall for her. SHORT-FIC.
1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE:

When Ino stormed into the cafeteria where she was supposed to meet Sakura with a wide smile on her face and eyes that failed to hide all the excitement she was feeling, the pink-haired girl knew that she was up to no good.

The blonde ninja walked in her direction with fast steps and jumped to the chair in front of her, laying a small magazine with a yellow cover on the table and clasping her hands in front of her body, looking at Sakura with a self-satisfied look.

''What's that?'' the rosette asked, giving her friend a suspicious glance before analyzing the magazine in front of her.

''This, my dear friend'' she started, her smile widening as she looked at her smugly ''is the solution to all our relationship problems!''

Sakura's jaw dropped and gazed at the magazine once more, this time feeling more curious and excited about its content.

''Is it?''

The blonde nodded, crossing her arms in front of her body and giving her friend a triumphant look.

''It's a guide! It has 21 steps that will definitely make the guy you like fall for you! You should totally try it out!''

Sakura took the magazine in her small hands and stared at it as if it possessed the secrets to happiness and success in life, and she would definitely make the most of such precious information to finally make Sasuke-kun notice her!

''Are you sure it works?!'' she asked eagerly, looking at the blonde girl with eyes full of hope.

''I'm 100% sure, it's been working for me and Shika, so it will totally work for you and Sasuke-kun!'' she peeked at the surroundings as if making sure no one was listening and moved closer to Sakura ''if I'm to lose Sasuke-kun to another girl, it'd better be you, so do this right!'' she said with a straight face, so Sakura would be sure she was serious.

The pink-haired ninja smiled at her and nodded a few times, bringing the magazine closer to her chest, her face bright and her eyes sparkling with the idea of finally standing a chance to make Sasuke fall in love with her.

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Step 1: Make eye contact!

''Sakura-chan, are you alright? You've been staring at Teme for quite some time'' Naruto said hesitantly, watching as Sakura bluntly kept her eyes on the dark-haired boy in front of her, who was already feeling rather uncomfortable with the way her eyes kept searching for his non-stop, almost as if trying to hypnotize him, during the whole time they'd been walking along the street.

''Shh, I'm concentrating'' she replied, signing to Naruto to stay quiet while she focused on looking straight into Sasuke's eyes, almost piercing through him. She had not averted her eyes from his for the past 27 minutes and she would not falter now, she could feel she was getting there! (Wherever _there_ was).

He blushed slightly.

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Step 2: Hang around with him a lot!

''Can you stop following me?'' he asked, annoyed, as she kept walking next to him.

''I'm just helping you out while you do your stuff!'' she replied, using the opportunity to move closer to him.

''I'm literally buying milk, Sakura, I'm pretty sure I can do that by myself''.

''One can never know!'' she smiled, and kept following him everywhere around Konoha: to the training grounds, to the academy, to the market – to buy more tomatoes, of course, he simply could not live without them -, to the library, to the Onsen – she managed to blackmail the girl who worked there to tell him that only the mixed one was available – to the Hokage Tower, to Ichikaru – where he met Naruto – and finally to his home, where he shut the door in her face and heard a ''I can't wait to do this again tomorrow!'' from the other side before fast steps told him that she was finally leaving him in peace. _For today,_ he thought, but still, he opened the door a fraction to watch her back as she skipped away from the Uchiha's District.

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Step 3: …then disappear for a bit!

Sasuke only sighed when Naruto started to look around frantically from his seat at Ichkaru's for the nth time, looking extremely worried.

''Hey, Teme, have you seen Sakura-chan? It's been almost a _month_ since we've last seen her! I was sure that she would show up today for our monthly meeting to share that gigantic ramen bowl!'' his eyes saddened and his lower lip trembling as he thought to himself that, as much as he really wanted to eat that ramen, he simply could not do that without Sakura-chan.

Sasuke didn't say anything, but he did glance around and felt he missed seeing pink hair.

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Step 4: Ask for his help to do things!

''Sasuke-kun, could you please go get me that glass of water?''

''Sasuke-kun, my kunais are all with Tenten, could you go get them for me please?''

''Sasuke-kun, Tsunade-shishou wants to talk to me, could you please go see what she wants?''

''Sasuke-kun, I feel so hungry, could you go get me something to eat?''

''Phew, Sasuke-kun, there's just so much laundry to do at home, could you give me a hand with that?''

''Hey, Sasuke-kun! I found these kittens lost in the streets, could you help me find a home for them?''

''Sasuke-kunnnnnn! Shizune is getting married in a couple weeks and I haven't chosen a dress to wear yet, would you be so kind as to help me choose, please? Please, please, please?''

''Sasuke-kun, Naruto is being stupid again, could you punch him for me please?''

''Oh, I forgot to tie the laces on one of my boots, Sasuke-kun could you… uh? Sasuke-kun? Where did he go?''

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Step 5: Talk to him (the more, the best!)

Sasuke silent and carefully started to choose the tomatoes he was going to buy at the market while Sakura spoke next to him:

''(…) But then I told Ino that it was ridiculous to dye her hair just because of that! And she got mad at me because, according to her, I never supported anything she did, which is _totally not_ true! There was that time when she wanted to adopt a dog and her parents were against it, but the thing was that she had already adopted it, so I had to hide and take care of the pup in my room for _weeks_ until she managed to convince her parents that she had a terrible disease that could only be healed by the presence of animals that had fur. And you know, my dad is allergic to dogs, so I had to make up this whole drama about how ungrateful some people were these days to their parents and how much they should be thankful to them just so I could persuade him to go spend a couple weeks at granny's, because I hadn't told him nor mom about the dog and it was getting harder to keep it a secret as dad kept sneezing whenever he came near my room! In the end, when Ino finally got to bring the dog back to her house, the little beastie fell in love with the neighbor's dog and decided it just would _not_ live anywhere else but at that specific house, with the other dog. Speaking of dogs, have you spoken to Kiba lately? Ohhh I remember that time when Kiba and I were in this mission together and…''

 _Sighs_

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Step 6: Laugh!

''OH MY GOD, THAT WAS JUST HILARIOUS!'' Sakura screamed as she held her stomach and released a loud laugh, tears falling from the corner of her eyes as she did so.

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged worried glances and then looked back at her, the first wondering if he had missed the joke, while the latter wondered what the heck had just happened to Sakura.

''Uh… yeah'' the man who hired them looked at her awkwardly and tried to continue explaining their mission to them, but every 4 words he uttered were followed by a pink-haired girl bursting into laughter, repeating some words as if they were the funniest thing she had ever heard and pointing at him while rolling on the floor, incapable of sitting due to the intensity of each of the laughter that followed one another.

Finally, Sasuke decided to help Sakura to stand and led her outside the room, leaving the task of speaking to the man to Naruto, and took her somewhere they could take a seat and she could calm down. He held her arms as her body shook from the laughter she still hadn't been able to stop, and inwardly he thought to himself that he actually really did like this happy face of hers and this bright smile on her face. Her hair was all messy and there were tears of happiness on the corner of her eyes, but she looked happier than she had ever been.

He couldn't help but smile himself while watching her state, and he decided that yes, he definitely liked this smile of hers.

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Step 7: Feed him!

''Are we receiving guests today, Sakura?'' her father asked as he watched his daughter walk around the kitchen carrying many, _many_ , plastic bags full of ingredients, then grabbing everything she could find in the kitchen, wrapping her apron with the picture of a smiling panda on the front around her waist and clasping her hands in front of her body. Ignoring her father's question, she quickly started to pick up the ingredients and some bowls and started to cook. Kizashi saw the determined look on her face and decided not to say anything else, lowering his eyes to continue reading his book, slightly worried about his daughter's mental state.

/-/

Sasuke sighed when he felt the familiar chakra right outside his house, flickering with excitement.

''GOOD MORNING, SASUKE-KUNNNNNN!'' he heard Sakura scream when he flung the door open to walk outside. ''I know you seldom have breakfast in the morning so I made you breakfast for you to eat on our way to the training grounds!''

''…''

''Try this, it's my newest recipe!'' she exclaimed while eyeing him with delight, catching one thing Sasuke _thought to be_ a very ugly onigiri and put it inside his mouth before he had the chance to protest. ''Good isn't it?!'' she looked at him with expectation, and he did his very best to keep his face straight while swallowing _that_ ''Ahh I can see you love it! Don't worry, there's plenty of more! Mom says we should eat _at least_ every 3 hours, but as we will be training today I made something for you to eat every two! I'll make sure you don't feel hungry today, Sasuke-kun! I'll feed you properly with all these delicious treats I made you all the time!'' and smiled warmly, her face full of joy: she was sure Sasuke would have the best day of his life being able to enjoy the delicious food she so kindly spent the whole night preparing to him.

Sasuke swallowed the last bit of the onigiri in his mouth with a big effort, but said nothing, bracing himself for the long, _long_ day he would have to endure.

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Step 8: Be mysterious!

''Hey, Sakura-chan, where do you think we should all eat today? At Ichikaru's? Or would you rather we went somewhere else?''

''Who knows''

''Ehh? Does that mean Ichikaru is fine?''

''Maybe''

''But 'maybe' is more like yes or more like- Uh… Sakura-chan, I think that blonde girl wearing a black cape in that alley is waving at you.''

''Perhaps… and perhaps not''

''…? Teme, did you do something to Sakura-chan?!''

''Hn''

''Sakura-chan? Are you feeling alright?''

''We shall see.''

''Uhh... Maybe you're not hungry? Do you want to go do something else before we eat?''

''I shall go see what secrets that girl wants to reveal to me, I'll meet the two of you later''.

''…''

''…''

''Should we follow Sakura-chan to try to find out what's going on? I'm honestly curious right now''

''Hn''

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Step 9: Don't always agree with him!

''I beg your pardon?''

''I totally disagree with you'' Sakura retorted, raising her head high and turning it to the side.

''That I'm ordering fish for _me_ to eat?'' he replied, a little taken aback by her words.

She nodded. Sasuke gave her a puzzled look and gestured to the waiter to leave so he would have time to choose something else.

''So, while Sasuke chooses, let's continue discussing what we will need in order to make this festival Mr. and Mrs. Wagarashi entrusted us to plan a big success'' Kakashi suggested, trying to get his students' attention to himself ''Starting by the color of the decoration. Ideas?''

''Yellow!'' Naruto exclaimed.

''White.''

''Hell no!''

''What?''

''It's simple: I don't agree with white.''

''Sakura, Mrs. Wagarashi _said_ she wants white for the decoration'' he insisted.

''But I don't agree''

''It's not a matter of agreeing or not''

''But I don't agree!''

''MOVING ON to the next topic. We can come back to this one later'' Kakashi interrupted, raising his voice a bit to draw their attention back to himself ''we must also decide on the buffet, what should we tell the cooks to serve?''

''Seafood'' Sasuke dared, giving a quick glance at Sakura.

''No way! Pork is better'' she disagreed.

''They have a pig as a pet, you can't suggest that we serve them pork'' he reckoned, rather irritated, but mostly impressed with her fierce replies.

''Steak then, not seafood.'' She declared, crossing her arms.

Sasuke snorted.

Kakashi watched them for a second and then started to write down on a piece of paper.

''Steak it is then. And for dessert?''

Sasuke looked at Sakura with determination and said, not averting their eyes:

''Dorayaki''

''Imagawaki'' she replied, looking at him boldly.

''Dorayaki is Mr. Wagarashi's favorite dish, he said so this morning'' he gave her a triumphant look and raised an eyebrow.

''But Imagawaki will please the other guests more!''

''Our concern should be to please the hosts, not the guests.''

''But I don't agree!''

''It's not a matter of agreeing!''

''Sir, are you ready to order?''

Sasuke looked at the menu, confused. He had forgotten to choose.

''I'll just go with ramen''

''Absolutely not!'' she shouted.

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Step 10: Dress attractively!

''Oh… Sakura-chan! You look, uhh...'' Naruto started, but felt he shouldn't finish the sentence, for he knew that he might be punched if he uttered the wrong words.

Incapable of choosing what kimono and what accessories to wear for the festival, Sakura decided that she couldn't go wrong if she wore _all of them_. Red, green, yellow, blue, violet, black, white, gray, indigo and orange sparkled from her kimono, made of pieces of each of her favorite ones, each ear wearing a different earring, the fingers full of cheap rings she couldn't help buying every time she and Ino went to festivals, the hair full of adornments of different colors and materials. She had never felt more beautiful, and stood proudly wearing all the accessories she loved the most.

Naruto and Kakashi exchanged glances, nodding to each other, silently agreeing that they would do well not to say anything and just keep on walking to the place where the festival would take place.

Many girls during the festival fought to win Sasuke's attention, but to their surprise (and his own too), he couldn't keep his eyes away from the one girl who had all the colors of the rainbow and a few more on her clothes, and a smile that sparkled more than anyone else's.

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Step 11: Show him you like some of the things he likes!

''We thank you both for taking part in our interview today about the life of a Shinobi'' the interviewer started politely. _Even though only the Uchiha was invited,_ she added mentally.

''Hn'' Sasuke replied. He couldn't wait for this thing Tsunade called a _mission_ to be over with.

''First of all, we would like to know a little more about you, Uchiha Sasuke. What is it that you like?''

''Training, fighting and improving my skills.'' He said simply.

''Me too! We are _so_ alike!'' Sakura announced, smiling widely and playfully hitting his shoulder. He just looked away from her.

''Uh, right'' she woman in front of them twisted her nose, displeased with the interruption, but went on ''and what about things you dislike?''

''Annoying people''. He said shortly, closing his eyes and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

''Oh my God, I know, right?!'' Sakura looked at him amused ''It's so terrible to have annoying people around you, because sometimes you just want to chill and have some time for yourself and they just can't stop being inconvenient and disturbing you and-'' she stopped, widened her eyes a bit and peeked at the dark-haired young man sitting next to her. He gave her a significant look, raising one eyebrow, and she slowly shrank in her seat, lowering her head.

The interviewer stared at her angrily and cleared her throat, holding the sheet of paper in her hands a little higher and continuing the interview.

''This is a question from our audience: how do you see yourself in the future? Is there any girl in your life?'' she asked with a seductive smile on her face.

Sasuke held his tongue as he thought better about the answer he should give and then gave Sakura a glance. Smiling knowingly of what she would say next, he made up his mind on what to say.

''No, no one. And I do not know what I want for my future, but I definitely don't want to ever date not marry. I see myself as a single person who stays alone most of the time in the future.''

Sakura opened her mouth a few times, thinking about what to do next. Then, reminding herself that the magazine would never lie to her and that this was for the greater good, she finally said, defeated:

''Yeah, totally! I mean, who needs someone, right? We are so better off by ourselves, Sasuke-kun and I, we just have _so much_ in common!'' and tried to fake a smile to the interviewer, who only gave her an annoyed look.

''And anything you particularly hate, _Mr. Uchiha_?'' she stressed the last part and glowered at the pink-haired ninja.

He gave her a smirk that inwardly he meant for Sakura.

''Pink hair''

Sakura choked and lowered her head, suddenly feeling heavy inside, and she did her best to hide from everyone the devastated expression on her face.

''I hate to be away from it''.

She gasped.

He smiled.

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* * *

This is the first part! This fic should have only one more chapter and I'll try to post it as soon as I can!

I honestly had my doubts about posting this one because English is not my first language and I wasn't sure I would be able to make it sound as good as it did in my head when I first came up with the idea of writing something like this. I promise I did my very best, though! I had never written any humor story before, and I also don't consider myself a particularly funny person so this sounded like a very bad idea, but I had a lot of fun writing it :3 !

My idea while writing this was not to make something big and super funny or a big and interesting story, but something short and cute that people could read and smile! Sometimes we have a tiring day and we just want something light and funny to read and make us smile, even if just slightly, and I was hoping I could make the people who read this smile a bit and make their days a little happier! I hope I managed to achieve that ^-^ ! Please let me know what you think of this first chapter and I'll try my best to write the second and final part as soon as possible!

Thank you so much for reading this, I really do hope you had a good time doing so!


	2. Chapter 2

Step 12: Copy some of the things he does!

''Oh my God, you're just _so annoying_ '' she said, crossing her arms in front of her body, her face showing nothing but disgust.

''What did you say?'' Sasuke asked. He was sure he had misunderstood her words: it just could not be that she said what he thought she did.

''I said you are _so annoying!''_ she repeated, emphasizing the last word as she looked deep into his eyes with a bored expression, as if the mere sight of him depressed her ''you're weak and irritating!''.

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow and smirked, getting closer to her.

''Oh, am I?'' He was already so close that she had her back pressed against the wall. She tried her best not to stutter as she retorted:

"Yeah! You're all just delaying me and I must reach my goals!"

The smile on the corner of his mouth made him look so devilishly handsome that her legs started to shake.

"Yesterday you were replying with 'hm' to everything we said to you; the day before you started to call Naruto 'Dobe' and treated everyone coldly, and before that you decided to eat just tomatoes and go around saying you had to avenge the death of a lost sister'' he moved his face closer to hers and her face turned as red as a cherry "tell me, Sakura, are you mocking me?".

She opened her mouth and closed it again many times, her brain working hard trying to figure what to say, even though the proximity between the two of them was making _thinking_ the hardest task in the world.

''I'm… I'm…''

''Hm? What are you going to do next, Sakura?'' he provoked.

Closing her eyes and gathering all the courage she had inside of her, knowing that she was already _so close_ to finally making Sasuke-kun fall for her, she shouted:

''I'M GOING TO RESTORE MY CLAN AND KILL A CERTAIN SOMEONE'' and pushed him away, running so fast she missed the slight laugh that escaped his lips and the way he looked so amused while watching her back as she disappeared in a corner.

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Step 13: Sing to him!

''You know, Ino, I think this one tip is _the one_ , you know? I must really do a good job today because this looks to me like a watershed between failure and success'' Sakura said with a determined look on her face as she looked straight ahead to nothing in particular, while Ino licked the last piece of cake from the fork she was using.

''You'd better eat that ice cream before it melts'' she pointed to the bowl with three ice cream scoops in front of the pink-haired ninja.

''I had always wondered what all Himes had in common in those love stories, and I think the trick is that they sing to their heroes!'' she said with a smug smile on her face, ignoring her friend's words ''I doubt Sasuke-kun will agree to a duet, which means I'll have to do my very best to make me singing alone be enough!''

Ino giggled and took the ice cream on the other side of the desk to finish it while her friend stormed out of the cafeteria humming aloud a random song.

/-/

''Will she ever stop?'' Naruto looked at Kakashi with worried eyes, as if the sensei saying that she would eventually stop would make the loud and out of tune song easier to bear.

''Who knows'' he replied with his eyes closed, trying to focus on something else other than his aching sensitive ears. He thanked Kami-sama many times that the old man they were supposed to escort home safely was completely deaf and seemed unaware of the noise around him.

Sakura figured that the best way to make this work was to sing non-stop during the entire time she was around Sasuke-kun. Which meant _all the time_ since they were on a mission together. She decided that she would only answer things and say what she wanted singing and that whenever no one was talking she would sing aloud so she could impress Sasuke-kun with her melodious voice.

What she wasn't counting on was that her wholehearted attempt to make this step work would end up getting her completely voiceless by the end of the second day, her throat aching, making it hard even to swallow.

She sat on her bed in the small bedroom they had roomed for her in one of their stops at an inn – being the only girl in the team gave her the right to a room of her own whenever they were out on missions -, thinking to herself that maybe her voice was too overwhelming and that's why she felt so tired now, but she would definitely get better in the morning for a whole new day of singing, all songs dedicated exclusively to her Sasuke-kun. She was sure he would love that.

For a second, a wave of bad thoughts came to her mind and she thought maybe Sasuke-kun wasn't enjoying her singing as much as she thought he was. After all, he hadn't complimented her not even once during the entire day. That's not how she remembered things to happen in the movies, something was definitely not right.

Maybe she should change the music genre?

A knocking on her door took her away from her thoughts and she jumped out of bed, opening the door slightly to see a familiar face with dark seductive hair waiting outside, one hand holding a bowl filled with soup.

''I thought you might use this'' he said, turning his face away to hide the slight blush that took over his cheeks ''you know, for your throat. Feel better by the morning''.

She smiled widely at him.

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Step 14: Drop _hints!_

''You know, Sasuke-kun, there's gonna be a celebration this weekend for the students graduating at the academy''.

''Mhm''

''Every genin, chunin and jounin was invited''

''Hm''

''Including our team''

''Yeah.''

''And there's a dance and the fireworks and all of that''

''Hm''

''And they suggested we went in pairs so we could dance and all that stuff…''

''…''

''Cool that I don't have a partner and neither do you, right?''

''…''

''Maybe it's a sign, right?''

''Hm''

''Okay, so I'll pick you up at eight!''

''What?''

Sakura turned around with a triumphant look on her face, but Sasuke grabbed her hand and turned her to him again.

''Sakura''

She held her breath.

''…''

''…''

''At seven at your house''

Her face brightened and she smiled warmly at him, nodding frantically.

''Okay''

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Step 15: Get his adrenaline pumping!

''… Say that again?'' Orochimaru asked, looking surprised at the pink-haired ninja in front of him, sure that he had misunderstood her words. But again, the way she walked all the way through his secret – or so he thought it was – lair, passed through the guards and now stood in front of him with an eager look already seemed surprising enough.

''Yeah, so. Here's the plan: you're gonna pretend to kidnap me, send Sasuke-kun a letter asking him to come alone to rescue me otherwise you'll kill me and then when he arrives you make this big speech about how this is going to be the last time Sasuke-kun is ever going to see me again, so he will feel really worried and his adrenaline will go to infinity and beyond and he'll finally fall in love with me!'' she finished her explanation raising her arms high and looking at the missing-nin expectantly, hoping that he would accept taking part in her plan.

From his part, Orochimaru was speechless. Never had it crossed his mind that one day a ninja from Konoha would show up in front of him at his hideout offering herself to be kidnapped to make another ninja worry about her. And not just any ninja, this was Sasuke Uchiha they were talking about, the one man Orochimaru wanted to put his hands on.

''But!'' she raised one finger ''you can't hurt him, alright? And if possible not me either, just enough to make him worry, you know'' she smiled at him while making her point.

''Of course, child'' he replied, a wicked smirk appearing on his face as his snake-like tongue licked his lower lip.

/-/

''HELP ME, SASUKE-KUN!'' she screamed, looking down from the stake where she was tied up tight with a rope at the dark-haired ninja with a desperate look. Trying not to make her lips move too much, she quickly whispered to Orochimaru, standing right below her ''quick, make the dramatic speech!''

The pale ninja breathed in and said, with a tired look on his face:

''This, Sasuke-san, is the last time you're ever going to see this young lady'' he started, and without noticing Sakura started to nod approvingly in his direction, encouraging him to go on. ''Because today,'' he continued ''is the day your eyes will finally become mine!'' he shouted, arms opening as snakes started to appear and go to the boy's direction.

''Wait what?!'' Sakura gasped, shocked ''this was NOT in the script!'' she demanded.

But neither man gave her attention. Instead, they engaged a fierce and long battle in which both gave the best of themselves: Orochimaru just couldn't miss this opportunity to take Sasuke's eyes, especially now that his Sharingan was in its ultimate form and he was fighting him alone.

And Sasuke just couldn't let this man get away after having attempted to hurt Sakura.

After what felt like hours to Sakura, Sasuke finally defeated his opponent, Orochimaru's snakeskin lying on the floor burning with the flames of Amaterasu. Sharingan met green, scared eyes and he ran in her direction.

''Uh so…'' she started, sure that he had seen through her plan ''I'm sorry about that, it never once crossed my mind that Orochimaru was this kind of man who doesn't keep his-'' but she couldn't finish her sentence: Sasuke took her in his arms and held her tight against his chest, burying his face on her neck.

''I'm glad you're alright'' he mumbled, his voice low and filled with relief.

Sakura felt surprised and for a moment didn't dare to move. But then she hugged him back and, looking high at the sky and making a V with two fingers on his back so he wouldn't see, she thought to herself:

'' _Yes!''_

 _._

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Step 16: Use body language!

''Teme, I think maybe something's wrong with Sakura-chan…''

''Why is that?''

Naruto looked around to make sure no one was listening and got closer to Sasuke to whisper:

''Don't tell me you didn't notice how strange she's been acting these past two days!''

''Hm''

''You know, in my opinion, that's all Tsunade obaa-chan's fault! She's keeping Sakura-chan so busy in that hospital that the poor thing has probably gone nuts'' he sighed and shook his head. ''I wasn't going to say anything but the way she's been throwing her arms and legs to all directions while speaking has got me worried that maybe she's caught some rare disease'' he looked at Sasuke with a worried look on his face, but the brooding young man said nothing, taking another sip of his black coffee instead and watching as dancers joined the stage right before of them in the pub where they were.

''She should be here already'' he stated, looking around to see if he could spot a pink, small human being somewhere. It did intrigue him that she had chosen this particular place for their meeting that night, he knew for a fact that Sakura didn't like crowded places, and much less women with sexy outfits dancing in front of him. He did wonder why she wanted them to meet there and why she was taking so long to show up.

The lights above them went off and only the stage was still illuminated when more dancers started to join the stage. Sasuke looked around one more time to see if he could find her when Naruto chocked with his drink and exclaimed loudly:

''Oh my God, isn't that Sakura-chan?!''

Sasuke's eyes shot to the direction the blonde was pointing at and there he saw her, among the other dancers. Unlike the others, who were calmly walking to the center of the stage, she skipped her way waving both arms and smiling widely to the crowd, her body moving as if she was listening to a very exciting song in her head. When they all stopped facing the crowd and their professor stepped forward to speak, Sasuke couldn't help but to smile as he watched Sakura tilt her head to the sides as she moved her hips and tapped her right leg to the rhythm of a song only she was listening to, unable to conceal the excitement.

''It is a great pleasure to introduce to all of you our team of Belly Dance! I hope you find yourselves pleased with what you see as our girls let their bodies speak to you!'' she gave the crowd a seductive smile and winked in Sasuke's direction, which made him frown, uncomfortable.

But soon after that, his face relaxed as he watched Sakura, who had obviously attended _zero_ classes, dancing among the other girls, moving like a clumsy wild animal. He couldn't help but to smile at the sight of her proud face, sure that she was the best dancer among them.

Sakura noticed how Sasuke had his eyes fixed on her and felt happiness rising inside of her, certain that he was impressed with how skillful and irresistible she was. And she couldn't wait until she showed him the next morning the mating dance she had been practicing.

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Step 17: Praise him relentlessly!

''Boys like it when girls notice the things they do well! So it's indispensable that you praise him whenever you can! And whenever he does something nice to you, let him know you're pleased with that! This way he will know that his attitude was good and he'll probably do it more often'' Ino explained, taking a sip of her juice.

''Oh'' Sakura nodded a few times, taking in the idea ''I think this is actually a very good tip, it makes much sense to me''

''All tips from the list are good tips!''

/-/

''Sasuke-kun, I love how your hair looks today!''

''Eh? It looks just like always, Sakura-chan!''

''To the untrained eye, maybe.''

''…''

''And you smell different too, oh-my-God, it's amazing!''

''Hm''

''Your food yesterday during the mission was tasting incredible too, I didn't know you were so skillful!''

''I'm skillful too, Sakura-chan!''

''Not to mention that you _totally_ kicked Naruto's ass today, you're the best ninja in the entire village!''

''Hey!''

''Hm''

''That last move! Maaaaaaaan, that was awesome!''

''…''

''And you were looking after me today, weren't you? I saw you making sure I was okay, that was just _so_ adorable!''

''…''

''I wish you would do that more often; you look so amazing when you take care of me!''

He blushed and looked to the side.

''Like that day when Orochimaru and I made that plan to make you worry and come save me, but then it didn't go according to my plan and things almost went wrong but you saved me and you were _so worried_ and I found it extremely adorable and-''

''Wait, ''he widened her eyes in her direction ''you planned all of that?!''

 _Gulps_

''I gotta go!''

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Step 18: Show off your talents!

''Alright!'' Sakura said to herself as she clasped her hands together and looked at all the things she had at her disposal one more time. For the past two days, she had been taking notes on everything she thought were things she was great at and decided to show Sasuke a combo of all those skills of hers on a dinner at her house. Having woken up early that morning, she had had enough time to gather everything she thought she might need, and she was going to make sure that night would be perfect.

For a moment, she thought maybe he wouldn't show up. She had invited him, of course, _and reminded him plenty of times that day_ , but maybe he just didn't want to have dinner with her at her house. But she managed to put those thoughts aside and focus on her work, there was still much to do.

When she heard a knock on the door she realized that it was much later than she had imagined and gasped, knowing that not everything was ready yet for his arrival. Quickly, she took a handful of salt from the bottle she spotted first and threw it on top of the salad she was preparing, taking off the apron fast as she reached the door's knob.

''Sasuke-kun, hi!'' she forced a smile ''you are very, _very,_ punctual'' added, giving him a nervous laugh. He didn't reply, only held her gaze and raised an eyebrow as if asking her if she was going to let him in. ''Oh, right, please come inside'' she took a step back to give him passage and then quickly closed the door behind them, asking him to sit on the couch as she ran back to the kitchen.

''Darn'' she cursed, looking at the burnt rice and putting it on a plate, deciding to put the part that was eatable on top and leave the burnt one below to make volume and make it look like she had managed to prepare plenty of good-quality rice. She looked at the tomatoes filled with small dots because of the salt she had thrown at it and prayed that she hadn't overdone it.

In a few moments, the table was set for the two of them, and she served him first, making sure only what was looking good filled his plate. Sasuke felt a little worried about trying her food again, remembering what he had to endure the last time she decided to cook for him, but he didn't want to be rude by refusing her invitation and decided to give her another chance.

What he immediately regretted when he put a slice of tomato into his mouth.

''Why are the tomatoes sweet?'' he asked, frowning as he watched how Sakura's face turned red and she looked horrified at the bottle she had taken the salt from. It was not salt, it was sugar. She slowly turned back to him and forced a smile.

''It's a family's recipe'' she explained, trying to make it sound natural.

''And I take that so is the burnt rice'' he pointed at the black rice that was visible on her plate, even though she tried her best to hide it and make a pleasant facial expression while eating it.

''Okay, maybe dinner wasn't the _best_ but I assure you that the dessert is like, _divine_!'' she assured, getting up from the chair in a hurry and running back to the kitchen to take the two ice cream pots as she said loud so he could hear from the dining room: ''it's ice cream, basically, but my dad makes the best topping sauce in the world, he really loves ice cream!'' and she took a look at the bottles in front of her: there were three, but she knew only one was the ice cream topping sauce. She smirked as she took the one with a red syrup inside, for she had seen her dad prepare it a few days ago and knew that he had used strawberries, so the red bottle must be the one. Knowing how much Sasuke liked topping sauce on top of his ice creams – she had seen him asking for the waiter to serve him more and more every time they went to buy ice cream for the team. She generously covered the scoops of ice cream with the syrup and then handed it to him, looking at his face with expectation. Sasuke looked a little more relaxed after seeing that it was just ice cream, she couldn't have messed up with _that_ , could she?

But as soon as he put a spoonful of ice cream inside of his mouth he let out an exclamation and dropped the ice cream all over his shirt.

''This is not ice cream topping sauce, Sakura, this is _pepper_!''

Sakura immediately covered her mouth in shock, eyes widening, realizing that yes, her father did love pepper, _very spicy pepper_ in fact, and that most peppers are also red, so she had chosen the wrong red syrup.

''Oh my God, I'm so sorry'' she managed to say, not knowing what to do to make him feel better as he breathed in and out heavily, trying to make the spicy taste go away. After a second, she looked down at his shirt ''Oh… we should clean that before it ruins your shirt for good'' and then she realized that this was her chance ''I can do this for you! I'm great at washing clothes! Give me your shirt!''

Sasuke looked at her skeptically, but seeing in her face that she was serious he decided that that was probably the best idea anyway. He couldn't possibly leave looking like that. Carefully, he took off his shirt and handed it to her, smiling at how red her cheeks became as she averted her eyes, avoiding to look at his bare chest. She mumbled an ''I'll be right back'' before hurrying to the laundry room and throwing the t-shirt inside the laundry machine.

''Well, mom always says that what cleans the clothes is the soap, so if I want it to be 100% clean again, I'd better use lots of soap'' she thought to herself, and decided that maybe half a box would be enough for this costly Uchiha shirt. She smiled proudly at her good job as she managed to make the laundry machine work and then made her way back to the dining room. She had to do her best not to stare at Sasuke's handsome figure, all his chest's muscles visible for her to see.

''Uhh… Well, Sasuke-kun, I'm very good at taking photographs too! Would you like to see some?'' she suggested, but did not wait for a reply. She took a photograph album from the shelf in the living room and asked him to sit on the sofa next to her, showing him some of the landscape pics she had been taking lately. What she didn't recall was that all the pics she had been taking of Sasuke since they were younger when he wasn't looking were also inside that same album, and when she turned one the pages all of them fell on the floor next to her feet.

''Oh Kami-sama'' she shrieked, throwing her body at the floor to try to gather all of them again. But Sasuke had well-trained eyes and he got a glimpse of every single picture on the floor before she managed to collect them all.

''You've been taking pictures of me?'' he asked with a side smile, although the answer was clear, but for some reason he decided he wanted to hear her saying it.

''Pff That's not you!'' she tried to say, but she could tell by the look on his face that he was not buying it ''it's nothing really''.

He handed her one of the pictures that he was holding and their hands slightly brushed one another, sending chills all over his body. Had he always felt this way while around Sakura?

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw from the corner of his eyes foam at the corridor of the house coming from a room.

''Sakura, where is the laundry room?''

She turned to the corridor slowly, saying ''it's right th- OH MY GOD'' and ran to open the door just to see the room filled with bubbles and foam all around.

''How much soap did you use?'' he inquired, looking at all that mess with wide eyes.

''Just half the box,'' she confessed ''maybe I didn't turn the machine on correctly?''

''Half the box?!'' he repeated, shocked, and made his way into the foam to turn off the machine.

It took them a long time to clean at least most of the mess that was made during Sakura's attempt to wash his shirt, and in the end the piece of clothing was ruined anyway, so Sakura had to give him one of her dad's shirt.

''Well, that didn't go according to the plan, but I'm good at many other things too, I can show you-''

''I have a talent too'' he interrupted, looking deep into her eyes. She looked like a mess from all they had been through that night, and because her clothes had become wet due to the cleaning, she had changed into her PJ's. To him, she looked stunningly beautiful with this messy hair and determined look.

''Oh?'' she asked, surprised.

''I can make people fall silent''

Slowly, he moved closer to her and placed a long kiss on her forehead. She gaped and stared at him, unable to utter a single word as her cheeks quickly turned very, _very_ red. Without another word, he passed through the door and went home, leaving a speechless Sakura standing in the kitchen with a silly, happy smile on her face.

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Step 19: Stop him from sweating!

''Sweat?'' she read aloud, confused.

''Mhm'' Ino agreed while finishing a flower arrangement at the shop ''To keep other girls away, y'know? So the only option he'll be left with will be you and he'll have to end up liking you because he'll have no other choice'' she smiled knowingly at Sakura ''you know this better than I do, but there's something about men's sweat that attracts women, I think it has to do with hormones or whatever.''

Sakura's eyes widened as she came to a realization:

''Sasuke-kun is always training and therefore sweating, _this_ must be why all other girls have a crush on him!''

''Precisely'' Ino nodded.

''Which means their attraction for him is completely fake!'' she said to herself ''I must protect Sasuke-kun from the claws of ill-willed women that are only after his sweat! I'm the only one true to him!'' she shouted and ran outside, making her way to the training grounds.

/-/

''SASUKE-KUN, STOP!'' she screamed as soon as she spotted him on the training grounds, sparring with Naruto.

''Eh? Sakura-chan, what's wrong?'' the blonde asked, confused.

''Sasuke-kun is in great, _great_ danger, I must take him somewhere safe!'' she replied, grabbing Sasuke by the arm and making him follow her.

''Where are we going?'' he inquired.

''To your house, of course! You must take a shower to clean up all that sweat and then stay still for the rest of the day! For the rest of the week even! We must keep you safe!'' she insisted, and Sasuke was way too confused to put up resistance.

/-/

Sasuke felt chill running through all his body as he stepped out of the bathroom and into his bedroom. Sakura had brought countless fans to the room and turned all of them on, opened the windows wide and brought a wooden chair to the middle of the room.

''Here, sit down!'' without waiting for him to move, she pushed his body until he was sitting on the chair ''there you go, now stay still''.

''For how long?''

''For as long as it takes for your smell to disappear and the threat to be eliminated'' she looked outside of the window suspiciously.

''Care to tell me what threat we are talking about?''

''Women!'' she blurted.

''… what?''

''Sasuke-kun, girls are responsive to the smell of a man's sweat, so as long as you keep on sweating there will be girls following you around and wanting to hang out with you and I just _can't_ let that happen!'' she declared with a straight face.

''…''

''We must keep you safe, so I brought these strong antiperspirants for you and some anticholinergic drugs that I got at the hospital so we can make sure you won't sweat anymore!'' she said, pulling out a needle and a syringe from her purse.

''Keep that needle away from me!'' he commanded, standing up and moving quickly to the other side of the room, one arm in front of his body to keep her away from him.

''C'mon, it won't hurt you! It's for the greater good!'' she insisted, running after him all around the house with the needle ready at hand.

.

.

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Step 20: Fill the void that is lacking in his life!

Sasuke woke up that morning with the sound of noise coming from the living room and felt a familiar chakra spiking from that same room. He sighed and got up, walking slowly with a sleepy face and made his way to the kitchen, knowing that she would soon realize that he was awake and would come to him. What he wasn't expecting, though, was to bump into three Sakuras on the way, each looking of a different age, wearing different clothes that – he noticed – had the Uchiha symbol drawn with watercolor pens on them. He almost stumbled as two little versions of Sakura ran past him, one running after the other demanding a ribbon back. Sasuke looked puzzled at them and carefully made it to the kitchen, only to find another Sakura – the real one, he supposed, given the burnt eggs in the pan she was holding – complaining to a man Sasuke thought to be a relative of Sakura at first - he also had pink hair - but then realized it was just another clone as soon as the man looked at him and revealed green eyes he was well familiarized with. No one else in the world had eyes that made him feel the way hers did.

''Look who's awake!'' the young man announced, smiling widely at him and offering him a seat.

Sasuke looked at Sakura with an annoyed expression, silently demanding an explanation for all of that.

''Good morning, Sasuke-kun!'' she said in a lilting voice.

''Care to explain why exactly my house is full of Sakuras and why is there a male Sakura in my kitchen?'' he looked at her impatiently.

''Oh there's not just one, I made like, six or seven of them'' she leaned on the table and caressed the man's cheek ''aren't they _adorable?_ '' she asked, pouting her lips in the young man's direction.

Sasuke stared angrily at him and then looked to the side.

''I want them gone.''

''No way!'' Sakura exclaimed ''you've lived alone for way too long, I decided it's past time you had some company so I made you a new family!'' she explained and opened her arms wide ''and the best part is that all members of it are _me!''_

Sasuke let his head tilt to one side and looked skeptical at her.

''You mean they are all here to stay?''

She couldn't help but to release a short squeak of happiness as she excitedly said ''Yes!'', clasping her hands together and cheering.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and got up, deciding to find a peaceful place outside of the house to relax. But as soon as he opened the door he bumped into 4 other Sakuras coming inside and greeting him, and when he looked outside he noticed that _all_ _of_ the Uchiha's District was full of them: chatting to one another, playing with dogs, practicing throwing kunais, joking around and reading books next to trees.

He swore this woman was going to make him go crazy.

''Sakura, get rid of all of them!''

''But why? Doesn't this place look far more lively now?'' in order to prove her point, she started to skip and dance in the grass in front of him and around him, humming a lullaby. He leaned against the wall and smiled while watching her dance. It was not graceful at all, but this was Sakura, and he loved everything she did.

Then suddenly she stopped ''Oh God! I forgot that Tsunade-shishou wanted to speak to me this morning!'' Sakura's eyes widened ''I'll be back later! You take care of your new family! Because they are many, I couldn't make them perfect so some may act a little weird'' she looked at him apologetically when he made a dissatisfied face and then she ran outside of the district.

''Hey, everyone, I found boxes full of tomatoes here!'' one of the male Sakuras shouted to a group of younger Sakuras close to him ''how about we throw them at each other and make a tomato war?'' he suggested with a wicked smile on the corner of his face.

 _Oh no_

/-/

For the following four hours and fifty-seven minutes – Sasuke counted _every second_ – the Uchiha had to run around the district to save the furniture, the garden and – most importantly – his beloved tomatoes, who had fallen victims of the young pink-haired girls. Or ''little devils'' as he nicknamed them.

When Sakura finally arrived, a wide smile on her face, it was already night. Sasuke grabbed her by the wrist and said firmly:

''Make them disappear''.

Sakura patted his left shoulder:

''It's okay, it's going to take a little while for you to get used to a family again, I know this is hole you've had in your life for a long time, so this is definitely going to help! Just give it a few months and you will feel better than ever, I assure you!''

''A few _months?!''_

One of the male Sakuras walked past them and ogled Sakura on his way, which didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke. He had found out during the last few hours that the male versions of his pink-haired teammate nurtured a kind of weird love for her and Sasuke didn't like that _at all_.

''Get rid of the men at least'' he asked.

''Ah I see'' she gave him a malicious smile ''Sasuke-kun prefers to be around girls''

''That's not the point''

''Aren't you happy that you've got many Sakuras around you?'' she smiled smugly.

''All I need is one''

She didn't know for sure what he meant by that, but she felt her heart skip a beat.

''Oh…''

He brought her closer to him and whispered, his mouth an inch away from hers:

''All I need is you''

Clones started to dismiss and she could swear they sounded like fireworks to her ears as their lips finally met in a gentle kiss.

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Step 21: Show him that you two are meant to be!

''Sasuke-kun, haven't we known each other for a long time?''

''Hm''

''This strengthened our relationship a lot, didn't it?''

''I suppose''

''I know a lot about you, you know a lot about me… we would make a perfect couple''

''…''

''And like, we have _so much_ in common!''

''…''

''For example, I like ramen, you like ramen, I have kunais, you have kunais, I am a ninja, you are a ninja, I am a member of team seven and so are you, and so on!''

''I might as well marry Naruto then''

''Don't interrupt!''

''…''

''And you know, some things are just meant to be, so it's pointless to run from them. You do know that free will is a myth right?''

''…''

''Yeah, so, it is! I think you should just give up already and accept the fact that you and I are destined to be together!''

''Who said that?''

''I did!''

''Do I get to have an opinion about this?''

''Nope! Didn't I just say that free will is an illusion?! In reality, you don't have any free will, you're just going to have to do what I'm saying''

''Aren't you using your free will right now?''

''I am not! I'm just telling you what has already been decided to happen just so you know there's no way to avoid it. Give up, Sasuke-kun, you're meant to be with me!''

''In that case…'' he said, moving from where he sat on the grass to where she was, next to him. Leaning closer to her slowly, his right hand brushing her hair and putting it behind her ear, his fingers gently touched her face before taking her chin and bringing her lips to meet his in a tender, long, warm, loving kiss.

When they parted, Sakura smiled brightly at him.

''So do you accept your fate, Sasuke-kun?''

He touched his forehead against hers and offered a warm smile.

''I do''.

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 **The end!**

* * *

Aaaaaa finally!

Sorry it took me so long to post this last chapter! I had ZERO inspiration for this, but I forced myself to sit down and write so I could get this done hahahaha And I had so much fun writing this! I really do hope you felt the same way when you read it!

The idea was to keep it funny - I SWEAR I TRIED! - but make it a little more romantic this time! What did you guys think?

I would really like to thank all of you who reviewed and/or liked and followed this story, it was my first attempt writing a story 100% in English, so I was feeling SO self-conscious about it! But I had so much fun writing this and I wanted to share this with you! Hopefully, it made you smile a bit too !

Please tell me what you think of it? x3 And I hope I can write more soon, I love doing this so much!

Thank you guys for all your support!

xoxo

The end!


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